Monthly Archives: November 2013

Researchers studied more than 3700 elderly volunteers associated with the Chicago Health and Aging Project. They were divided into three groups based on the percentage of the Mediterranean diet intake with the highest group switching 55 percent of their diet to Mediterranean.

All the three groups were then put through mental tests every three years over a period of 15 years. The researchers found that those who included a large amount of Mediterranean diet showed greater ability in the mental tests especially those related to long and short term memory.

“When someone incorporates a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and non-refined grains such as cereals and breads and breaks it up with a little wine, there appears to be at least some protection against cognitive aging”, researchers said.

Mediterranean Diet refers to the dietary habit in over 16 countries in the Mediterranean region. According to the American Heart Association, some of the highlights of this diet include:

This study further reinforces the health benefits conferred by this diet and also adds that following this regime may boost brainpower even in aged individuals.

As a Prime-Timer myself (past retirement age though not retired!) this study is particularly encouraging. I am so glad I use Juice Plus+ to help achieve the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

Juice Plus+ is the most thoroughly researched brand name nutrition in history, with more than 30 studies published in medical and nutrition journals and 12 more studies underway.

Share this:

Like this:

High fruit and veg intake helps to keep the blues at bay, say researchers

If you want to feel happier and more energetic tomorrow, eat more fruits and vegetables today. That’s the surprising take-away from a recent study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology.

Researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand instructed 281 young people to keep food diaries and fill out questionnaires about their emotions daily for three weeks. The participants specifically tracked how many fruits, vegetables, and snack foods such as cookies, potato chips, cake, and muffins they ate. The results showed that positive mood and energy levels were highly correlated with fruit and vegetable consumption. In other words, fruits and vegetables make us feel good. In fact, no other foods boosted mood or energy as effectively.

If you’re like me, you may crave foods such as sweets or pasta when you’re feeling down. Yet this study shows that everything we think about “comfort foods” is wrong. While that doughnut might provide a temporary spike in your well-being, lasting effects only come from fruits and vegetables.

But is it possible that people who have a sunnier outlook are more prone to take care of themselves and eat healthy foods? Which came first: the behavior or the mood? The researchers think the fruits and vegetables caused the mood improvement, because they noted that high produce intake on one day was directly linked to improved mood on that day, as well as the next.

“On days when people ate more fruits and vegetables,” Dr. Tamlin Connor noted, “they reported feeling calmer, happier and more energetic than they normally did.”

Sounds good, but how much produce do you need to eat to feel an effect? A lot. 7-8 servings a day, to be precise, which is far more than most people typically consume.

A proven way to increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables (and “improve your energy and mood”) is by adding Juice Plus+.

We have always advocated eating as many servings of fresh fruits and vegetables as possible (experts recommend 9 to 13 servings for adults), but sometimes hitting those goals can be quite a feat. Try as we may, we don’t meet those recommendations every day. If the same is true for you, Juice Plus+ can help bridge the gap between what you should eat and what you do eat every day. In addition to the many clinically proven benefits of Juice Plus+, who knows, it might even help you feel happier and more energetic too!

Juice Plus+ is the most thoroughly researched nutritional product in the world.

Share this:

Like this:

To look good and feel good is work. To look great and feel great is a full-time job. There is no cheating! It’s daily! Minute-by-minute, second-by-second.

This is the process Phyllis Sues loves and loves to work at. She turned 90 on April 4th and she hopes to be no less creative in 10 years time.

“Life in itself is a challenge and you can either accept it and take action, or you can sit and do nothing,” says Phyllis. Her advice: “there is only one winner: accept the challenge, take action and get on with your life no matter what age.”

“I’m not aware of being 90. I’m aware of feeling physically as good as I have ever felt and mentally even better. I practice dance and workout every day. This body has to know who’s boss and being 90 and feeling 20 is as good as it gets! People ask me all the time what’s my secret. I tell them move, learn and listen.”

The reward is a healthy body and mind; her body and mind are one. “We are partners and we work play and live as one.” She can’t sit around and think about tomorrow. Her body and mind have to be trained from the first breath, otherwise it’s down hill all the way. Dwelling on age is a trap; “there is no age, it’s living each moment to it’s fullest.”

Phyllis started her own fashion label at 50, became a musician and learned Italian and French in her 70s, learned tango and trapeze at 80 and walked into her first yoga class at 85. “So, if you think you’re old, think again!”

What inspires her is the process of learning. “I like experimenting and have no fear of trying something new, so flying high on a trapeze at 80 was never a question. Becoming a musician late in my life was not accidental. It was meant to be.”

Dance has always been Phyllis’s passion. She had her first ballet lesson at 14 and knew then that dance would be her life. Four years later she was performing in a night club in Boston and soon after that, on Broadway.

“If you don’t train the body every day it withers. If you don’t train the mind everyday, you lose it.” That’s why she learned Italian and French; learning a language is a great mental exercise. She then challenged herself to write music. She wrote the music and lyrics for her first song “Free Fall” which was inspired by flying on the trapeze. A CD followed with 12 songs: Scenes Of Passion. And then six tangos for Tango Insomnia.

“I admit, I’m driven but I’m driven by desire and that’s the formula. Desire is so powerful, like you are propelled as if from a canon. Desire to me is the driving force, but action is the result.”

Working and accomplishing something mental and physical makes her day worth living. There is a way to beat the clock. “Stay fit and enjoy the journey. Accept the challenge and go for it!”

Phyllis Sues is an inspirational Prime-Timer; long may she continue to inspire us.

Like this:

Sarah, 42, was hoping to solve her headaches and poor digestion… just look what else happened.

“You might think I’d have little in common with a camel, but we do share one useful skill: both of us can go for a very long time without water.

Usually I start my day with a cup of tea, then I might have a glass of water with my lunch and one with dinner – that’s about a litre of liquid in 24 hours. It feels like plenty, but apparently it’s not nearly enough.

After years of suffering headaches and poor digestion I spoke to a neurologist about my regular headaches and a nutritionist about my poor digestion, and both told me I should be drinking up to three litres of liquid a day for my body to function at its best.

Then, when I read a recent survey suggesting that at least one in five women in the UK consumes less than the recommended daily intake of water, I decided to conduct an experiment. What would happen if I drank the recommended amount every day for a month?

The photograph of me taken the day I started this trial demonstrates perfectly – and rather frighteningly – what a lack of hydration does to a face.

I am 42, but have to admit I look more like 52 in this picture, which is shocking. There are dark shadows under and around my eyes, which make me look exhausted, a profusion of wrinkles and strange reddish blotches, and my skin lacks any lustre. It looks dead.

My daughters, Alice, eight, and Betty, four, tell me I look ‘about 100 years old’ in this photograph and I have to agree.

Even my lips look shrivelled. This is all classic evidence of poor hydration, apparently. Every system and function in our body depends on water.

It flushes toxins from the vital organs, carries nutrients to cells, provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues, and eliminates waste.

Not drinking enough means all these functions become impaired. So I decided to see how I would look and feel if I drank three litres of water every day for 28 days. The results were astonishing . . .

Week One – Weight: 8st 7lb; Waist: 28in

Three litres of water is just over five pints, which sounds like an awful lot. I visit my local GP in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, to be sure there can be no adverse health implications to upping my water intake so dramatically.

He is very encouraging. ‘I suggest you have a big jug of water in the morning, then another in the afternoon and another in the evening,’ he says. ‘Your kidneys, which filter waste products from the blood before turning it to urine, will quickly feel the benefit, as they will be getting a good flush through.’

I usually have a wee three times a day: when I get up, before I go to bed and at some point in the afternoon. By the end of my first day of drinking more water, I have had six and my usually sluggish bowels are much more lively.

I exfoliate my face every day to try to get rid of dry patches before I apply moisturiser, but suddenly I seem to be breaking out in spots. Maybe it’s all the toxins coming out of my skin. A few days into the experiment I’m still urinating five or six times a day but it’s clear now, rather than dark yellow.

I’m enjoying lots of cups of tea. My husband says that’s cheating, but I tell him the British Nutritional Foundation says ‘moderate amounts of caffeine do not cause dehydration, so they do count towards your fluid intake’.

I meet friends for a drink one night, remembering that alcohol is a diuretic (a substance which promotes the production of urine), acting on the kidneys. For every one alcoholic drink, your body can eliminate up to four times as much liquid.

I assume a white wine spritzer is a good option because the alcohol is diluted with soda water, and I sip water between alcoholic drinks throughout the evening.

Hangover headaches result from dehydration: the body’s organs try to make up for a lack of water by stealing it from the brain, as a result of which it actually shrinks.

Headaches result from the pulling on the membranes that connect your brain to your skull. Ouch. Luckily, I escape all this and wake up hangover-free.

For years I’ve been doing ten minutes of yoga every morning straight after I get up, but I’ve been feeling stiffer over the past six months. Yet since I started drinking more water my flexibility has improved. Gemma Critchley, from the British Dietetic Association, confirms that water helps lubricate the joints.

Week Two – Weight: 8st 6lb (lost a pound); Waist: 28in

My complexion is improving and my skin tone is more even. I still have wrinkles under my eyes, but they look less crepey and shadowy than before.

The blotches on my face are diminishing, and the shadows around my eyes are less pronounced.

I feel pleased when my sister-in-law tells me my skin looks clearer than it did a week ago. I have a busy week with lots of time away from home, so I stock up on half-litre bottles of mineral water I can carry around in my bag. A week’s worth costs just over £8. If I spread my water intake over the day, that’s half a litre when I wake up, another with breakfast, one with lunch, one in the afternoon, one with my evening meal then another before bed. It sounds like a lot, but I’m finding it manageable.

Today, I’ve noticed my breath smells less ‘breathy’, maybe because I’ve ditched tea – I decided water was better for me. I’m certainly not missing the sweet, milky taste it left in my mouth.

Gemma Critchley says: ‘Water is obviously the best choice since it has no calories and will hydrate you efficiently.’ I say I might try juice instead of water sometimes, just for the taste and variety, but she warns me not to.

‘If you drink a large glass of juice, you could be consuming more energy than you need,’ she says, which would mean weight gain.

I haven’t had a headache for over a week now, which is unusual for me, and I’m delighted that my bowels are working so much better. Result!

I went shopping this afternoon in Leeds, but having to find a lavatory three times in five hours was irritating – they always seem to be in the most hidden corner of every shop.

I’d expected my stomach to feel bloated with all the extra water but it’s actually flatter than usual. And my husband says the cellulite on my bottom and thighs has vanished.

Surely this is too good to be true?

Week Three – Weight: 8st 6lb; Waist: 27.5in (lost half an inch)

The dark rings and wrinkles under my eyes have virtually disappeared, and my skin looks plumper and more nourished. My friend, who is a beauty therapist, says this is because the water is helping my skin cells regenerate more efficiently.

I’ve noticed I’ve stopped rubbing my eyes when I wake up in the morning. They used to be dry and full of sleep, but not now. All this extra water must be keeping them moist.

I’m feeling guilty about all the plastic bottles I’ve been using so I’m back on Yorkshire tap water, which I carry around in a re-usable water bottle.

I have to take a long train journey and I realise afterwards how productive I felt and how easy I found it to concentrate, rather than having my customary snooze.

Dr Emma Derbyshire, senior lecturer in nutritional physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University and adviser to the Natural Hydration Council, says: ‘Our brain is 73 per cent water, so poor hydration can affect how it functions. Dehydration can reduce our ability to concentrate as well as our cognitive performance.’

The downside was having to use train toilets. Dreadful.

I’m eating less because drinking water with meals makes me feel fuller quicker. I used to snack, but I was reaching for food when I was actually thirsty. Studies show 37 per cent of people mistake thirst for hunger.

When I put on eye make-up, my eyes seem less wrinkled. When I rubbed an eye-shadow applicator over my eyelid, it used to drag the skin with it, too, but now my skin seems to have more elasticity.

I genuinely can’t believe the difference in my face. I look like a different woman. The dark shadows around my eyes have all but disappeared and the blotches have gone. My skin is almost as dewy as it was when I was a child. The transformation is nothing short of remarkable.

I’m feeling leaner and fitter, too, which is amazing, since the only thing I’ve changed is the amount of water I drink. My best friend says she’s worried about how much water I’m consuming – she’s heard rumours about Nigella Lawson being an ‘aquaholic’ who drinks three litres before bed.

But I am following safe guidelines under the supervision of my GP, so I am able to reassure her.

I even enjoy another boozy night out but drink lots of water along the way and wake up feeling fresh as a daisy. Whatever happens, I am going to keep on drinking three litres of water a day – and would advise every woman to do the same (after checking with her doctor, of course).

I feel fitter, leaner and healthier, and my husband and friends tell me I look ten years younger. Who in their right mind would not want to try something which gets such incredible results?“

Share this:

Like this:

All this for less than the price of a cup of coffee?!

According to Accounting Principals’ latest Workonomix survey, the average American worker is shelling out more than $20 a week on coffee, for a yearly average of $1,092. That’s about $3 a day.

Some claim that drinking coffee has health benefits – we seriously doubt it. But whether you drink coffee or not (we much prefer tea!), there is no doubt that $3 could be spent every day on something with proven health benefits.

We have had the privilege of ‘eating’ Juice Plus+ and working with it for over 20 years, so to say we are ‘believers’ in this family of products would be an understatement. We are in our late 60s, in great shape and take NO medications of any kind! Juice Plus+ has been the catalyst we needed (as do most people) for dietary and lifestyle changes that have been life-changing.

Juice Plus+ (whole food) provides the nutritional essence of 26 different fruits, vegetables and grains in convenient capsules and delicious soft chewables; it’s the most thoroughly researched, safe and effective nutritional product in history.

Most of us do our best to bridge the gap between what we eat and what we know we should eat, but we are very confused about supplements – it seems that some are considered dangerous to our health.

Hundreds of prominent doctors like Dr. Bill Sears tell us that we should eat many more fruits and vegetables; these same doctors know we can’t or won’t so they prescribe Juice Plus+.

Juice Plus+ has been thoroughly studied in pregnancy, children, young adults, athletes, families and the elderly, with results published in major, peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Share this:

Like this:

There are literally thousands of different vitamins and other nutrients in a single orange, in an apple, in a leaf of spinach. This is in stark contrast to vitamin pills that contain only a few vitamins in fragmented, isolated, and unnatural ratios. Nowhere in nature will you find a food that has the vitamin content of a vitamin pill.

Antioxidants in fruits and vegetables are now proving to be far more powerful than the much vaunted A, C, and E, and there are thousands of them.

Scientists now know that the total antioxidant power of a single apple or orange far exceeds that of a typical vitamin C pill. So, which fruits and which vegetables have the most health-giving and cancer-fighting properties?

Fruits

In a recent study, the ability of eleven common fruits to suppress cancer cell growth in vitro was compared. Which was most effective—apples, bananas, cranberries, grapefruits, grapes, lemons, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, or strawberries? Watch this video for the answer.

Vegetables

A landmark study of the antioxidant activities of common vegetables and their ability to slow or stop the proliferation of cancer cells pitted 34 common vegetables against 8 different lines of human cancer cells. Watch these videos for the surprising results.

Bottom line: “the inclusion of cruciferous and Allium vegetables in the diet is essential for effective dietary-based chemo-preventive strategies.”

Interestingly the most potent of these fruits and vegetables are found in Juice Plus+.

Share this:

Like this:

by Liza Pepple, Manager of Special Projects at The Juice Plus+ Company

In traditional juicing processes, especially for industrial (or large scale) practices, fruit and vegetable juice is formed by squeezing the produce until the liquid is removed. That liquid is often a clear fluid because most processors cannot “juice” the solids. This leaves an almost clarified liquid that has a relatively high sugar content and relatively low fiber content, and contains none of the micronutrients that would be found in the skin or peels of the fruit, or the leaves and stems of the vegetables.

The “Juice Plus+ing” process is more rigorous, and results in what we feel is a much better finished product.

We start with the whole fruits and vegetables. We leave the skin and seeds intact (unless the seeds are toxic, as is the case with peaches) and process the whole produce.

We have a very large grinder that breaks the majority of the pieces into small bits and then those small bits are further broken down into a fine slurry.

It is this slurry containing the micronutrients from the skin and seeds or leaves and stems along with the flesh that is dried. This picture (left) of the beginning of our process is the rough grinding of the fruits (click on the picture to enlarge).

This is a picture of our cranberries on the drier (right). If you look closely you can see fibrous strings (click on the picture to enlarge).

What you can’t see in this picture, but I have seen consistently, are pieces of seeds that are still relatively whole.

When we test our product against other “juiced” powders, we consistently see higher values for things like vitamin e and c, as well as polyphenols and anthocyanins.

Additionally, we consistently see deeper, more vibrant colors in our products than in competitive products.

Here is a picture of our cranberry compared to standard juiced cranberry powder (click on the picture to enlarge).

You can see that our powder (on the right) is darker and has more natural variation than the one on the left.

We used to juice. Now – for twenty years – we have Juice Plus+’ed! The best news is that this special way of making the Juice Plus+ powders results in the most densely nutritious and effective whole-food based product in history. This is provenby the impressive body of research on Juice Plus+, published in more than 30 medical and nutrition journals.

We encourage you to watch our 10 minute video which explains exactly what Juice Plus+ is, how it’s made, and why it is the most thoroughly researched and top selling nutritional product (in a capsule) in the world.

Share this:

Like this:

A trip down the grocery store produce aisle could soon feel like a stroll down “Sesame Street”. Starting as early as next spring, eggplant could be brought to you by Elmo, Big Bird could be pushing the beets and the Cookie Monster could become the Celery Monster. The produce association will develop guidelines for how members should use the characters.

Under an agreement being announced Wednesday (Nov. 6, 2013) at the White House, the nonprofit organization behind the popular children’s educational program will allow the produce industry to use Elmo, Big Bird and Sesame Street’s other furry characters to help market fruits and vegetables to kids. The goal is to boost consumption of fruits and vegetables among children. At a recent White House summit on food marketing to children, Michelle Obama urged food companies and television broadcasters to do more to promote healthier foods to youngsters. The first lady is leading a nationwide campaign to reduce childhood obesity in the U.S.

Starting as early as next spring, eggplant could be brought to you by Elmo, Big Bird could be pushing the beets and the Cookie Monster could become the Celery Monster. The produce association will develop guidelines for how members should use the characters.

Shoppers and, any children who accompany them, can expect to see their favorite Sesame Street characters on bagged, boxed and individual pieces of produce.

“Just imagine what will happen when we take our kids to the grocery store, and they see Elmo and Rosita and the other Sesame Street Muppets they love up and down the produce aisle,” Mrs. Obama says. “Imagine what it will be like to have our kids begging us to buy them fruits and vegetables instead of cookies, candy and chips.” The collaboration between Sesame Workshop and the produce association will show kids that “fruits and vegetables don’t just make us feel good, they taste good, too,” she said.

Sam Kass, the executive director of “Let’s Move,” applauded Sesame Workshop for agreeing to waive its licensing fee, which is a major source of income. “For them to step in and do this is a really big thing,” said Kass, who also is an assistant White House chef.

Larry Soler, president and chief executive of the partnership, said kids younger than 5 don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables, and that it gets worse as children get older. He said the agreement hopefully will “drive excitement” and interest in fruits and vegetables that might not otherwise be there.

The announcement will be the first since a White House summit on food marketing to children that Mrs. Obama convened last month, where she urged a broad range of companies to do more to promote healthier foods to youngsters.

Share this:

Like this:

Government Analysis Indicates Many Minerals Less Abundant

Results from research into Americans’ diet habits haven’t been good. We’re consuming more calories than ever, many of them from unsaturated fats, and as a result, we’re getting fatter and unhealthier.

But if a person should decide to improve his or her diet and eat the foods doctors and dieticians recommend for better health, would it be enough? Actually, there is strong evidence that the fruits and vegetables available to most people today don’t contain the nutritional value they had about 40 or 50 years ago.

In 2004, a University of Texas research team headed by biochemist Donald Davis, Ph.D., analyzed a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on 43 common garden fruits and vegetables and found that almost half of the substances containing minerals important to good health had lost some nutritional value.

Davis said in a university news release that at first, his team didn’t evaluate individual fruits and vegetables but found the nutritional declines in the plants as a group. “Considered as a group, we found that six out of 13 nutrients showed apparently reliable declines between 1950 and 1999,” he said.

The nutrients Davis’s team identified as losing at least some measurable value were protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin and ascorbic acid. The declines ranged from 6 percent for protein to 38 percent for riboflavin.

Specific Produce Identified as Losing Nutritional Value

Why did this happen? As best as Davis can determine, the nutritional value in some produce was diluted through faster methods major agro-farm companies employed to grow high-yield crops to meet consumer demand.

Davis continued studying what he termed the “genetic dilution effect” and was able to identify specific high-yield crops that had declines in nutrients.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data, calcium content of broccoli which averaged 12.9 milligrams per gram of dry weight in 1950, had declined to only 4.4 mg/g dry weight in 2003.”

And in a study of much longer duration, Davis reported that in wheat and barley crops, protein concentrations declined by 30 to 50 percent between the years 1938 and 1990.

Tips to Preserve the Nutrients in Your Produce

Cooked vs Raw: High heat and water can destroy up to 30 percent of nutrients found in raw fruits and vegetables. Sautéing, steaming or even microwaving healthy produce can minimize nutrient loss. In fact, in some instances, cookingincreasesthe potency of nutrients by aiding in the break down the cell walls of the plant. Cooking increases the availability of antioxidants typically found in carrots, spinach and tomatoes.

Fresh vs Frozen: When it comes to superior taste and nutrition, fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden are always best. But by the time your “fresh” produce reaches your local grocer, it has had plenty of exposure to air, heat and light — enough time to diminish its nutritional value. Frozen produce, which is usually flash-frozen quickly after picking, can be just as nutritious and can last for about a year.

Canned produce is the least favorable option as most of the produce vitamin content is destroyed by high temperatures used in processing or lost in the water in the can. Canned fruit packed in in high calorie syrup should also be avoided.

Juice Plus+ helps us bridge the gap between what we do eat and what we need to eat, in terms of daily fruit and vegetable intake.Juice Plus+is now 20 years old and is the world’s most thoroughly researched brand name nutritional product.

You can learn more about Juice Plus+ and the medical research behind ithere.